


How To Translate These Feelings

by Benfrosh



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Love Confessions, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), did you know that reference books in this era could be up to 400 11 x 16 pages?, handwritten!, private lessons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-20 21:38:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21288584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Benfrosh/pseuds/Benfrosh
Summary: Dorothea's thought of a lovely gift for Petra - the ability to put her feelings into words. The problem is, she doesn't quite know how to on her own...
Relationships: Dorothea Arnault/Petra Macneary
Comments: 12
Kudos: 154





	How To Translate These Feelings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ticcytx](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=ticcytx).

Dorothea let out a sigh as her fingers traced the spines of the monastery's books. She had heard claims that there were hundreds, if not thousands, of books stored here, and yet somehow neither she nor the librarian hadn't found a single relevant one yet? "Hey, are you sure that you haven't found it yet? I'm starting to feel like someone's pulled a prank on us," Dorothea shouted to the poor librarian that was helping her search, perched precariously on top of a rickety wheeled ladder to reach the higher less-used shelves. He turned down to look at her, putting back another book and shaking his head in defeat. 

"Oh, have you been looking for a book?" came a voice from behind her, causing Dorothea to jump in surprise. "Ah, my apologies!" Petra apologized as Dorothea turned to see her. "I did not mean to be startling you, I just had been passing by the library when you were there."

"No, no, it's no trouble at all, Petra!" Dorothea replied, settling down. "I just wasn't expecting anyone else to be in the library this early in the day." Dorothea noticed that she couldn't stop smiling as soon as she had seen Petra. Business as usual there.

"I must admit, I also would not have expected to see anyone. Except perhaps Linhardt, if he was still asleep from the night before," Petra added with a giggle. "What brings you here so early?"

Dorothea hesitated before answering. It wasn't anything scandalous, but she had been hoping it would be a surprise... "Oh, you know, nothing much," Dorothea answered half-heartedly, twirling her hair nervously. "Just... doing some research for a personal project, that's all."

"Is there any way I could be helping?" Petra asked, her eyes opening wide in delight. "I would love to get the chance to spend more time working with you!"

"No, no, don't worry about it!" Dorothea answered, trying to wave off Petra. "It's nothing that impo-"

"I'm so sorry, dear, but I just can't find that Brigid phrasebook!" the librarian bemoaned as he descended the ladder, cutting off Dorothea and ruining any chance she had of keeping it a secret. "It must have gone missing sometime in the last few years. Such a shame, though we should be thankful so much of the library is still here."

Dorothea sighed as she hung her head in defeat. "... it's okay. Thank you for looking."

"Oh, are you being interesting- interested in learning Brigid, Dorothea?" Petra tilted her head in confusion. "Why did you not ask me for helping you?"

"It's just- I kinda wanted it to be a surprise for you, you know?" Dorothea explained haltingly, trying to figure out how to put it in words. "I know you've been putting so much work in learning Fódlan, and I felt like it was unfair no one was making the same effort to reach out to you. So I wanted to learn a little bit and see if I could communicate with you in Brigid instead."

Petra's eyes gleamed as her hands clapped in joy. "Oh, Dorothea, that would be wonderful! You absolutely could be asking me to teach you, I would gladly be of help to you."

Dorothea smiled as she fiddled with her hair nervously. "Are you sure? I don't want to be a bother or anything."

Petra waved her concerns off. "You are never a bother, Dorothea. Being with you is always pleasurable. I have no plans this evening - please come by my room tonight and we can have the first lesson then!"

Dorothea nodded, even as the thought of visiting Petra in her room made her heart beat faster. "That sounds wonderful, Petra."

"Then I shall see you then!" And with a small wave farewell, Petra left the library.

Dorothea watched Petra leave, her eyes following every small movement of Petra's body. Mentally, she was certain that Petra had meant it innocently. Petra was always so forthright, and if she said that something was just a study session than it was just a study session. And surely it was way too much to hope that Petra was reciprocating the same crush Dorothea had been working up to admitting. But even as her first dream of giving Petra a heartfelt confession in Brigid had collapsed, a new dream was forming in her head...

Meanwhile, the poor librarian stuck halfway up the ladder waiting for the two to finish groaned. He had to clamber all over the library for the last hour for _this_? He was so far behind on reshelving now...

* * *

Later that evening, after a whole day of daydreaming and anxiety, Dorothea stood outside of Petra's room. She hadn't been sure what to bring - she no longer had her old study slate, nor did she have any idea where to get one, nevermind how silly she'd feel showing up like a bright-eyed freshman to Professor Petra's class. And on top of that, she had no idea how to be dressed - her ulterior motives suggested one thing, but if she went full date night attire when Petra really only wanted to give a lesson she would die from embarrassment. She had decided on wearing one of her lighter casual dresses, attractive without being imposing. 

She couldn't help but think back to her time in school, being here like this. It felt like every single night she was doing this same song and dance, finding the perfect attire, the perfect time, the perfect place to take a boy and lure them into her tender trap. None of them had ended up panning out, though, despite Dorothea's best efforts, and for several years after she had heavily fallen into despair at the thought that the thread of her life was slipping out of her hands. If she was less kind to herself, she'd interpret her plans to advance on Petra were just another attempt at claiming a good life for herself.

And yet...

And yet this was different. Her heart told her as much. It wasn't that she didn't like any of her previous conquests - she wanted a good life for herself, and a good spouse was part of that. But none of them had stirred this same feeling in her chest as Petra did. Dorothea wasn't just looking for what Petra could do for her - she really truly wanted to know what she could do for Petra. What they could do together.

And by the _Goddess_ was she hot, Dorothea thought as she giggled to herself. There was no denying that that made the prospect of a relation more appealing.

With that pleasing thought, Dorothea committed herself. She was going to try to take tonight as her opportunity to confess to Petra and make something happen. She reached up to knock on the door.

Before she could, however, Petra opened the door, giving poor Dorothea another jump. "Hello there, Dorothea!" she greeted Dorothea, her arms spread wide for a hug. "I am so happy that you were able to make it!"

"H-hello to you too, Petra," Dorothea replied, accepting the hug and trying to savor the feeling through the daze. She saw that Petra was still wearing the same dress she normally wore about the monastery - she wasn't sure how to interpret that? "I hope you have some study materials prepped, because I sure didn't bring anything."

"Oh, you do not have to be worrying about that, dearest Dorothea," Petra reassured her, pulling back from the hug and taking Dorothea by the hand. "Please come in and be making yourself comfortable."

Dorothea gingerly stepped into Petra's room, looking around for a place to sit and noticing that, in fact, there was only two places to sit - the desk chair and the bed, and the desk chair had a rather large book on it... she decided to be assertive and sat herself down on Petra's bed, sinking into the feather mattress. Being a little pushy never hurt her before.

Petra followed close behind, taking up the tome from the chair and settling down into it. "Here's the book I was using when I came here," she said, proffering it to Dorothea, whose hands shook a bit as she was surprised at the weight. "It was written by an imperial diplomat who came to visit Brigid after the conquest. In addition to a helpful translation guide, it offers a full comparison of Brigid and Fódlan cultures. I found it extremely in use when I was learning."

Dorothea opened the book gingerly to a random page. She wasn't sure what to expect, but the handwriting was as small as the scripts she had studied off of in the opera, and those were made to be as short and convenient as possible. This one was on the order of hundreds of pages... she could barely imagine how much time Petra had spent hunched over this massive reference tome, trying to learn how to survive in this whole new world. She looked at the heading for this page - "Differing Cultural Norms in Nudity." She hastily turned the page before her thoughts drifted any further. "Are you sure it's okay for me to borrow this?" Dorothea asked.

"Of course, Dorothea! You have no idea how light my heart feels to hear you wish to learn more about Brigid," Petra answered with a huge grin. "I love sharing things with you, and wish to share even more."

Dorothea smiled. "Well, thank you, really. I'll definitely look over this in my spare time."

"Before we start, though, I was thinking we could be starting with a few basic phrases. Ones you could use for simple communication."

Dorothea nodded. "Sure, that makes sense. Did you have a few in mind?"

Petra pulled out a study slate from her desk with a few sentences written onto it. "Here are some I've prepared ahead of time. Let us try to sound them out, and then I will tell you what they mean."

Dorothea took a look through them. "Tha, chain eil. Oh Goddess, that must have been awful."

Petra giggled. "It will come with practice. Repeat after me. Tha."

"Tha."

"No, no. _Tha_."

Dorothea frowned. "Tha?"

Petra smiled. "Tha! You are so cute when you get frustrated."

Dorothea blushed at the compliment. "So what do those two mean? Yes and no?"

"Tha, exactly. Very important start for communicating."

Dorothea nodded in understanding. "Is mise Dorothea."

Petra broke up into laughter. "No, no, it is not 'maise.' It is 'meeshuh.' 

Dorothea's brows furrowed even deeper. "That - that's not how it's written at all!"

"And now you know how I feel! People here insist letters are read so weirdly. It all makes more sense back in Brigid."

Dorothea almost countered, but thought better of it. Everyone feels more comfortable back at home, after all. "So what does that mean? I presume that's an introduction?"

Petra nodded. "'My name is Dorothea.' It is not exactly how people introduce themselves on the street, but it is sufficient for someone new to Brigid."

Dorothea looked at the next line. Dè an t-ainm a th’ ort. "... I'm sorry Petra, I cannot even begin to try on this one."

Petra came over to the bed and sat on Dorothea's side to look over at the slate and sigh. "Yes, that is making sense," she apologized. "I am sorry, I had forgotten exactly how different our writing styles are. It has been some time."

"No, no, that's quite alright. If I want to learn, then I'm going to have to learn." Dorothea looked down to the bottom of the slate. "What's this last one though? It seems a bit long to be a common phrase."

Petra leaned her head in closer to Dorothea's, and Dorothea could feel Petra's breath on her neck and Petra's arm as it wrapped around Dorothea's shoulders. "This is a special one. I thought it'd be quite relevant to your studies in particular."

"W... what does it say?" Dorothea asked, her voice shuddering as she felt the temperature of the room rise.

Before Petra and before Dorothea realized it, Petra leaned in closer to her and kissed her. Dorothea's mind went blank at the mere touch, and she could think of nothing save the soft taste of Petra's lips and the feel of Petra's fingers running through her hair. After what could have been a second or an eternity, they parted, and as Petra looked into Dorothea's eyes, she whispered: "Tha ùidh mhòr agam annad. Am bu mhath leat a thighinn còmhla rium gu Brigid às deidh a ’chogadh seachad?"

Dorothea blinked, unsure of how to respond.

Petra smiled as she translated. "I'm really interested in you. Would you like to come with me to Brigid after the war is over?"

Dorothea grinned wider than she knew she could. "Tha."

As Petra pulled her in for another, deeper, longer kiss, Dorothea realized that she had been so focused on how to present herself, she hadn't ever properly read Petra's expressions of interest. Woops. Oh well.

**Author's Note:**

> A commission for @ticcytx! Please be sure to check out her art! This one's a good one: https://twitter.com/ticcytx/status/1171946794009464837


End file.
